Racking question

[tdidona]

Hello all, I'm a novice winemaker (3 kits so far and a my first Skeeter Pee almost done) and have a question regarding racking. I recently purchased the All in One wine pump, which has been the best investment I have made to date (thank you Steve), but feel like I'm trying to grab too much of the must each time I rack. For example, my Skeeter Pee was crystal clear after adding Sparkolloid 2 weeks ago, and I racked it to a new carboy on Saturday. I didn't want to leave any wine behind, and in doing so sucked up some of the lees on the bottom, therefore re-clouding my Pee, which I'm very disappointed about. So my question is how much wine do you leave behind each time, I feel like you have to leave progressively more each time to avoid this issue. And if my Pee was already cleared, do you think it will clear again on it's own, or will I need to add more Sparkolloid to accomplish this? Thank you for your help.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Whatever fits through the racking cane on the first racking. After that, there should only be a tiny bit of lees left (if there isn't, you aren't letting it sit long enough).

Less than a cup, normally.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Only a tiny bit of lees are there but no question the juice on the bottom is cloudier

Let it sit!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Just making sure that you are using a sediment tip on the racking cane ?

make sure that you tip the carboy a bit with a 2x4 or such and then with a flashlight behind the carboy slowly let the cane down ward - I suggest hitting the vacuum release a couple of times to keep the vacuum lower while you are at this stage.

Once you see any sediment being sucked in the racking cane - you should hit the vacuum release or pull up on the racking cane.

You can always take the rest that is in the carboy to a smaller container to settle out even more if needed.

 

[dralarms]

Rack the clear wine to a carboy, rack the sediment to a bottle and it will settle some more. (Oh btw, a standard carboy bung turned upside down fits a wine bottle).

 

[Bergmann]

How much you leave behind depends on the wine, Some wines leave mush more sediment than others, For example if you ever make a Jam wine you can start with 5 gallons after all is said and done it will fit nicely into a 3 gallon carboy were it not for topping up. The thing to remember is the quality of the finished wine is far more important than the quantity. Time produces the best quality so there is no need to worry about leaving every single bit of sediment behind. What ever get transferred will fall out during aging and be left behind with the next racking,or maybe the next one or the one after that. Generally after the first racking the sediment is fairly thin. I quite frequently do not bottle wines for a full year after fermentation, so it is all gone by the time I get that far.

 

[sampvt]

What I do after I stabilise and fine my brew is, I tip the carboy backwards and place a 3 inch block under the front so its solid but tipped backwards. This makes the lees drop to the back of the carboy and when the brew is clear, I very slowly take the wood away.

This leaves the front bottom of the carboy with nothing or very little lees and when I insert and secure the syphon tube in the carboy, I get a pretty clear racking.

Once the carboy is tipped forwards and the lees begins to roll forwards at the end of the racking, I stop and put the rest of the liquid, including the lees, into a 2 litre clear pet bottle. Surprisingly the cloudy remains will clear in a very short time (24hrs) so it can be syphoned up and added to the clear wine which should be topped up and left for as long as you want it before bottling. Every 23 litre brew yields a loss of less than a small cup of wine or under 250ml.

I don't like to loose my precious brew and a little lateral thinking helps.